I think gm's operations as a whole would be better than they are now ( obviously) if they were never involved with saturn, hummer to begin with.

Im going to miss pontiac,if they decide to get rid of it. My dad had a '67 gto & i have had 2 t/a's '82 & '84.

 

Yeah, I realized I forgot the Cobalt/Cruze and also the "Volt" but I was too tired/lazy to go back and edit the post.

With regard to your comment on being able to find 5 unsold 2008 HHR SS within a 200 mile radius, I know what you're saying. In metro Atlanta, there is only 1 unsold new 2008 HHR SS, but there are quite a few unsold 2009 HHR SS's within a 100 mile radius. I currently have a 2004 Pontiac GTO which I bought new in January 2005, and which I enjoy very much. However, when the GTOs came out in 2004, they couldn't give them away, and I will never understand why. The only thing I can attribute it to is that the automotive media trashed it for looking too "bland" and the lemmings in the general public allowed themselves to miss out on a great car because some idiots in the press, with their mindless, profound loyalty to all cars German and Japanese, decided it was bland looking. It looks good to me, and lots of people give it a second look as I am driving down the street. I get lots of thumbs ups from people walking by and driving by. Obviously, it's not too bland. Similarly, for whatever reason, people don't buy the HHR SS and they sit on dealer lots. With GM's upcoming "recovery" efforts, I am really afraid that they will stop making cars like the HHR SS before I am ready to buy another car for myself.

I would love to have a Chevy HHR SS, but I simply don't "need," at this point to trade the GTO in, and I cannot justify having two personal vehicles for myself. I cannot even convince my wife to get rid of her 2000 Altima GLE with nearly 120,000 miles on it; so I cannot in good conscience have two newer cars for myself while she drives around a nine year old worn out car, which she will not replace because of her concerns about the job market and economy, etc.

Why the general population in America is drawn to boring, bland, underperforming Japanese cars, I cannot understand. I guess they all enjoy driving their boring Hondas and Toyotas, but I just shudder to think that someday, those kinds of cars may be my only choices.

 

The same thing would have happend in time anyway. What was wrong with Saturn and Hummer is the same thing that was wrong with GM.

You would think company like GM would have one purchasing department, one Marketing, one customer service etc. Well they don't. It is common for GM to buy the same bearing by 17 different purchasing departments and pay 17 different prices.

GM was brought to gether form many companies but never got the run as one corperation thing down. During the Sloan era they survivd by the large scale and market share. That no longer works and GM failed to make the needed changed in the last 50 years to adapt to it. In other words they kind of work like the goverment and have a lot of waste.

THey also failed to stand up to the unions in the past and gave away more than they can afford today. It is kind of like your freedom once you give it away it is near impossible to get it back.

The Changes in the coming weeks will help save the strong parts of GM. THe wild card is the economy as there will be a buying spree once things work out but the economy will not just spring back like some think. Some of the policies the goverment is doing today is not instilling much with the Fortune 500 and Wall Street. It is time to work with them vs just jumping all over them. There are some very good companies and smart wall street people but with the way they are being treated they not going to help much. This is why they can't fill cabinet and under cabinet seats with qualified people.

Pontiac nearly died in 1980's GM gave them a second chance when the Grand Am sales were high. But the never really funded them well since the 70's. THe Fiero was funded seceretly by Pontiac and was killed by GM several times. The failings of the Fiero was mostly because the lack of Corperate support and the hate from Chevy. GM has been their own worst enemy.

As for HHR SS siting around there is just a lot of cars just sitting as nothing is selling.

The other SS factor is many people do not know what it is. GM has done little to no marketing on it and many other models so people really know little of these cars. Even the dealer books handed out has little info.

I get told that people love what I did to my HHR. When I tell them I bought it that way they are shocked and even more shocked when they find out it has a 290 HP Turbo.

GM needs to take the money they have left and market the hell out of Chevy and develope the best cars they can. THe new Malibu is as good as anything out there. But GM needs to make it better than anything out there. IF they want people to see they are different they need to give them a reason to buy their cars.

IF they fail to develope & market their cars for the future they will fall into the same trap as Packard, Studebaker, AMC and other large companieds fell into Before they closed.

 

Ya !!! Wall St. has real smart people. Push paper around until the economy collapses.

 

I'm sorry to say, this sounds like the same ol', same ol'...to me. Another blunder by the "ingenious" marketing people and "continuous management"...perhaps ??? Guess it remains to be seen. I mean, who am I. Just a little guy that watched them stumble through blunders for many years (including Wagners) and while REAL business people tried to tell them those pending decisions are the wrong direction.

 

 

It is different this time as RIck Wagoner had been transforming the GM more in the last 8 years than anyone person has in the last 75 years.

There just was so much tha needed fixed and so littl money to do it. Also there was great resistance to his changes. At GM the lead guy does not always get what he wants as he still has to answer to a board.

Rick did make a few mistakes but he really was close to pulling this off if the economy and gas prices had not killed truck sales last year. The truck profits were paying for many of the changes as in buy outs and new product.

GM has a lot of new product just waiting to come out. We only hear about the Volt as that is all the media cares about. The Volt is a first gen show case. It will not save GM in the first Gen but it could very well set the trend for the future drivetrains in green cars. The First Prius never made a profit and the present one did little till gas prices went up. The new car is finally getting to were it needs to be. THe Volt will do much the same. It's technology will not just be in it in the future but also other GM cars in the line up.

GM once our of major debt and with much less over lap in all area will do well. Just one problem they can not control it the Economy. As it is all the companies will have problems as Toyota and Honda are also burning through cash reserves.

The biggest problem with the Auto company problems is that few people really know what is going on, what is at stake and the real needs. The other problem is often the media also does not tell the correct story or get it right half the time. ..

I know some people in GM and I also work in the performance aftermarket and get feed back on much of what is going on. There are a lot of worried people as there are still a lot of cuts coming.

Your not just a little guy you're a customer you can make a differance many have by buying other brands.

Also the people who tried to tell them also were not always right. If it were so easy to run companies like this everyone would be doing it. But from what I see on the web comments few people would have crashed GM in a week with some of their ideas.

 

GM may have a lot of trouble selling the Volt, since they dont offer rental anymore. The price of a replacement battery is going to be sky high, and when the battery is nearly exhausted, the car will have little to no resale value. I'm wondering how many years the battery will last up here in the great white north?

A $10000.00 battery replacement wil hurt the Volt sales IMHO.

http://www.hybridcars.com/economics/hidden-costs.html

 

Finally, I will say that Wagner was the most progressive CEO and President that GM had while I was employed by them. But, that's not giving much credit. Everyone, starting from the last years of Pete Estes (who had some good early years) to the present were/was/are/is horrible.


I'm off my soapbox and done venting. Besides this is off topic. But, I could tell you stories of financial stupidity that would make your tongue curl.

SORRY, to the OP and the Mod's.

 

But you do know, that you get, I believe I heard or read, a $500 recycle fee for the old batteries....Right.